Played NS2 from Day one, sad to see it below 1k players.-Still being edited-

I knew this day was going to come eventuallyI played Natural Selection since the original Half Life one mod, I played it for hours on end and loved it quite abit.I played Natural Selection 2 since it first got officially released on October 31st 2012, and it's sad to see the game in the state that it's currently in.

I remember when NS2 first came out and there was the infamous "Red plug" disconnect issue where you would be in the middle of a game and get randomly disconnected from the match and you would have to reconnect.

I remember when the Gorge used to be able to hit literally nothing and then after the Gorgeous update came out the Gorge was surprisingly accurate and playing as Gorge was more viable than ever.

I remember when Descent first came out on the scene and I rushed home to play it, I played from 3:30PM until 4:00AM the next morning, it was awesome.

I remember playing long, 90-minute matches that would eventually end in some massive rush from the opposite team and the commander of the Alien/Marine team would be the last one left and they would cower inside of their Hive/Command Station.

I'll stop with the "I remember" now but anyways it truly is sad to see NS2 in the state that it's in, even though NS1 had a relatively small and tight-knit community as well, with the thousands upon thousands of people that purchased NS2, now only less than one thousand of those people are actually playing it.

This is quite scary and saddening.

Personally, I quit NS2 after the following balance changes occured

-3 different types of grenades were added, the reason I have a problem with this is that while this is "Natural Selection 2", the original Natural Selection only had one grenade type and it worked quite well, why feel the need to add 3 different grenade types when just one type will satisfy it all, a regular grenade that just deals a good amount of damage in a small radius, that's it, we don't necessarily need an EMP grenade that saps energy from Aliens or a grenade type that saps armor, it's simply absurd, the NS2 devs should have just stuck to regular grenades like we had in NS1.

-The Lerk's bite rate was increased, now I believe since then this change has been reverted, maybe I'm wrong here but anyways the Lerk's bite rate was increased and if I recall correctly the damage values were not changed at all, the Lerk's powerful and poisoning bite attack coupled with an increased bite rate made the Lerk nearly unstoppable for a short amount of time.

-Dual Railgun Exosuits were added, this change really did it for me, a fully charged, single railgun exo in most cases can one-shot unarmored Skulks, Lerks,Fades,and Gorges.

Hopefully this game will someday make a comeback of some sort or atleast the community will stay active, I do not want this game to die.

I love this game, there's always servers at peak times where I am. I have shown my support with 4 reinforcement badges, world championship donations and the Kodiak pack, but I rarely play it. Dunno why.

A couple thoughts:-Exos are underpowered. Even dual railgun exos.-People go on a lot about the low player numbers. I don't really have a problem with this. I've never, ever, had a problem finding a server to join. There are always people playing. Maybe there aren't hundreds of thousands of people playing, but there are some. I'm happy with NS2 being a niche title. I feel like the Battlefield and MW bros are missing out, but then again I don't need them bringing their negative attitudes into NS2.-Probably the worst time to play NS2 is during a sale. This last one was just the worst. Marine teams full of green players while all the veterans go alien. People just randomly jumping into the chair with no idea of what they're doing and no desire to ask questions. People ragequiting because the aliens are "OP". Nobody willing to work together. Lots and lots of people who paid one dollar for the game, bounce off the learning curve and then proceed to go on about why they think the game sucks...nothanks.-The skill gap can get ridiculously frustrating. Especially when you get one of these "43-2" guys on your server. But. As I've said before. It adds a level of randomness and unpredictability to matches that I've come to appreciate.

1) 3 grenade types were added, but only 1 is really viable : Nerve gas. The other two are quite situational and don't really impact much. And nerve gas does it's job. Bottom line, none of these grenades are as impactful as NS1 grenade, yet still add something unique to the strategy of the game.

2) I agree with the lerk bite change, it was done to make them viable in another area: to allow them to assist in biting down RTs. Biting a marine too much / aggro lerking is still very risky as the lerk is weak. I kill most lerks with a LMG in pubs.. and I almost always am guaranteed a kill when i have a shotgun and a lerk comes to bite me. So while i agree the lerk isn't rookie friendly its actually in an "ok" spot right now... so i don't see too much of an issue.

I do, however, share your sadness regarding the playercount, even though i never have an issue finding a server to join. It is a difficult game for many to get into .. let alone stay long enough to find the really enjoyable portions of it. (beyond just shooting aliens on a space station)

1) 3 grenade types were added, but only 1 is really viable : Nerve gas. The other two are quite situational and don't really impact much. And nerve gas does it's job. Bottom line, none of these grenades are as impactful as NS1 grenade, yet still add something unique to the strategy of the game.

2) I agree with the lerk bite change, it was done to make them viable in another area: to allow them to assist in biting down RTs. Biting a marine too much / aggro lerking is still very risky as the lerk is weak. I kill most lerks with a LMG in pubs.. and I almost always am guaranteed a kill when i have a shotgun and a lerk comes to bite me. So while i agree the lerk isn't rookie friendly its actually in an "ok" spot right now... so i don't see too much of an issue.

I do, however, share your sadness regarding the playercount, even though i never have an issue finding a server to join. It is a difficult game for many to get into .. let alone stay long enough to find the really enjoyable portions of it. (beyond just shooting aliens on a space station)

Hey IronHorse, I'm so glad you replied to this discussion man, I remember you from the NS2 forums and NS2 in the very early days, you obviously don't remember me but it's okay :V.

I'm just glad to see that you share the same feelings I do when it comes to the playercount.

A fully charged single railgun shot will not bring down a gorge, or fade. Dual fully charged railguns should however. The thing you trade is 3 seconds of not being able to fire, while being incredible immobile and a huge target as well.

I don't think we can do much about the game play being confusing for rookies. There are a number of good tutorials out there, but they are an added layer of effort for the new player to go and seek out info. When most people might just want to buy the game, install and jump in. I am not sure how to better inform new players of the complexity this game has, and that you can't just jump in the expect to have any fun.

I hope this game gets rediscovered by people, because it is the best game I have played in the last 10 years.